Zags and Dogs

A few quick thoughts from last weekend and last night on the college hoop front…

Zags and Duke
I won’t say much about the Weird Science-level depantsing that the Zags experienced in Madison Square Garden against Duke, because there isn’t too much to say. They are sort of easy to figure out, actually. If Matt Bouldin and Steven Gray are not shooting well, then they’re completely done for. Elias Harris is a special talent, and nearly made an astounding dunk over everybody very early in the game, but he was really exposed against the bigger frontline of Duke (shot 2-8, 5 rebounds). Robert Sacre is developing into a gigantic tease right before our eyes (2-11, 4 rebounds). He has every single physical attribute that you’d want out of a center. He’s a legit 7’0, he’s got bulk, strength, and length. He’s got better than average athleticism, he’s got a nice looking shot, he shoots free throws well… so what’s missing? I’m going to say this, with the full expectation that Zags fans may take offense to it, but I’ll say it anyway, Sacre plays soft. If he was a weak-looking guy, like say Kelly Olynyk, then we’d expect a lot less out of him. We’d expect him to shy away from contact and make moves away from the basket in the post as opposed to toward the basket. He shoots way too many fade-aways for a guy who has his physical stature and abilities. That’s what so frustrating for people who are normal-sized, we see a guy who truly is a physical anomaly, a literal freak of nature, and we wonder why he isn’t the best player on the court. We wonder why he doesn’t dominate given his size and natural abilities. We wonder how in the world he can shoot 2-11 from the field and be a complete non-factor. After thinking that the Zags have the ability to make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament, I wonder if they’re not a one and done team depending on their seeding and matchup.

This team plays several guys, but they are not a “deep” team necessarily. Several of their players are not actually good enough (right now) to be contributors on a good team. Their starting five is good (if not playing soft), but if they are off, then the team is doomed.

I’ve sung Matt Bouldin’s praises for awhile now and I will continue to do so, but for as much as I like the guy’s game, he’s limited. Commonly, white-guy guards are pigeon-holed into a certain category. Sometimes it’s fair, sometimes it’s not. Luke Ridnour was a terrible defender (and probably still is, I wouldn’t know because I haven’t seen him play in years) because he was weak and couldn’t stay in front of anyone because he has no lateral quickness. Bouldin is not Luke Ridnour. Bouldin is as strong as Ridnour is weak. He’s also just built differently in that he’s taller and just bulkier. The positives for Bouldin are as follows: he’s strong, he’s smart, he’s got a good-looking shot, he’s decent on-the-ball defender, he’s a great help-defender, he has great vision, he’s steady with the ball, and he makes good passes. Those are all tremendous attributes and because of those he’s going to get paid to play basketball professionally (I believe he’s an NBA player, but at the very least he could thrive in Europe if he so chose). The biggest weakness in his game is his ability to beat guys off of the dribble. He just can’t do it against a good defender. He’s strong, but he’s not quick with the ball, he cannot turn the corner against someone who is faster than him. Nolan Smith absolutely killed him defensively. Bouldin could do nothing against him (1-7, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 5 turnovers).

My friend Joel, who doubles as a Zags/Cougs fan (but gun-to-his-head, he’d pick the Zags) is wondering whether or not Gonzaga needs to play these high profile games any longer. I say yes for two reasons:

Exposure. People around the country know who Gonzaga is because of their successful runs in the tournament and because they play these high-profile games and are, usually, competitive. If they back away from these games and rely on the tournament for exposure, that simply won’t be enough. They are on national TV several times a year prior to the tournament solely because of the high profile games that they play. If they were to face other mid-major (or lower) teams, then they’d fall off of the map. It wouldn’t happen overnight, but it would happen.

Preparedness. As good as the WCC has been lately with some solid teams clustered at the top, Gonzaga would not be ready for the tournament once it came around if they didn’t play other good teams. Beating up on Loyola Marymount will not get a team ready for the tournament.

UW and Portland
Speaking of the WCC… UW put quite a beatdown on the Pilots. Portland was completely overmatched but they did a decent job of shutting UW down when they went to a zone. However, Portland kept turning the ball over and UW was able to get out in transition and completely overwhelm them. This was not a measuring-stick game for the UW because there was simply no chance that they were going to lose, not with how well they came out and dominated defensively, but that doesn’t hide the fact that they are completely lost on offense. I’m still not convinced that this team knows what to do when a zone is slapped on them except shoot threes. I saw Pondexter flash to the middle a few times, but not enough to be effective. It’s weird. I can’t even appreciate a blowout win because I keep seeing flaws in the team that will be exposed against good teams (see Georgetown). Maybe I’m just a miserable person, that could be…

I’m officially worried about Abdul Gaddy. He didn’t do one thing good against a clearly inferior Portland backcourt. If this game was a true test for playing time, then how has he earned playing time? I’ve reversed field on him so many times this year and they haven’t had their Pac 10 opener yet. He just looks so passive and weak out there, it’s kind of startling. I’d never seen him play in high school, but he came with such national acclaim and hype, I just assumed that he’d be ready to play right away. It’s evident that he’s not. Either he needs huge minutes to build his confidence or he just needs to sit and play spot minutes (which won’t help with his confidence…). I don’t know what they’re going to do with him, but whatever they’re doing now isn’t working. Perhaps he just needs time, which is probably the answer. I’ll reserve true judgment until the midpoint of the Pac 10 season and we’ll see where he’s at.

As for MBA, I’ll just say this and then back off of him. Should I just stop expecting him to play like a big man? His inability to take an easy shot around the basket is maddening. Has he ever dunked the ball in the half court offense? I’m being serious. Is he not able? I know that he can dunk on a breakaway with a running start, but is he unable take a pivot step and dunk? He’s 6’8 and plays like he’s 5’11 in the post. I do not understand why.

Meanwhile, Scott Suggs looks like he’s made his case for big minutes. Granted, his outburst came against an inferior opponent, but he looked comfortable, didn’t do anything the hurt the team and made a number of impressive plays. He’s going to take minutes away from Justin Holiday.

Portland’s Nik Raivio looks like his brother Derek… except inflated with about 45 lbs of air.

Even though I’m not completely unsure about Gaddy, I love, love, love Overton coming off of the bench. He’s just perfect for that role. His frenetic style doesn’t lend itself to long minutes anyway because he tends to get a little out of control which leads to him turning the ball over and also getting himself into foul trouble. But if Gaddy isn’t ready, then Overton needs to play big minutes… sigh… they just need to get more out of Gaddy. But how?

UW and Texas A&M

First, I was tempted to put up an image of Derrick Roland’s leg, but I decided to be a decent human instead, just for a change of pace. Legs are not supposed to bend that way and it’s so weird how it happened. He must have come down at the worst possible angle because bones do not break that easily. When it happened I saw their big man, Bryan Davis (no, not the bald, white guy who used to poison the FSN airwaves with his inanity and who pronounced his name Bryan Davesh… She-attle-ShooperShonicks!) look back and gasp as he ran up the court on defense. He put his hands over his head (while the play was going on) and was completely out of it. The guy who grew up with Roland (Donald Sloan) didn’t know what happened until after play was stopped on UW’s end. As the play ended, you could see him look around, and then realized that his friend, Roland wasn’t around and quickly look down court to see him laying there being attended to by the medical staff. He then reacted like anyone with a heart would if someone they loved was in pain. I’m an extremely cynical guy, but I double as a complete sap at times and I nearly started crying when I saw that. After that point, A&M was out of it. They had some chances but UW really took control of the game, ratcheted up the intensity and slammed the door shut. It was pretty impressive to see.

Speaking of impressive, would Quincy Pondexter be more so? I can’t believe what I’m seeing out of the guy. He’s playing with such confidence, but he’s also not hogging the ball and trying to impress upon everyone that he’s “The Man.” He knows he’s the man, and doesn’t have to prove it foolishly. He took the most shots (17) but also made 58 percent of them (10) while grabbing 13 rebounds and swatting 3 shots (only 2 assists… the team only had 13). He’s incredible in the open floor and he’s deadly from midrange. I love the way he’s playing right now.

Now… Abdul Gaddy continued his baffling no-show… I remain worried about the guy. He started the game, but only played 9 minutes and collected 4 fouls, no assists and 2 turnovers… I don’t know if he needs to be ridden hard by the coaching staff or backed off of. The dude is only 17 (um, I was a junior IN HIGH SCHOOL at that age…) and turns 18 in a month. I suppose my expectations of him are through the roof because of the whole one-and-done scenario stuff (meaning he could not be one-and-done because of his age… he needs to stay in college at least two years because of the NBA’s age requirements). Because of that talk, I assumed that if it was not for the age requirement, then Gaddy might actually be in the NBA now. I’ve got news for him: the age limit is not what’s keeping him from the NBA. Currently he looks like a guy that probably should have redshirted… he looks completely overwhelmed, cannot find his shot, and is visibly frustrated. I feel for the guy because he’s obviously talented, we’ve seen flashes of it (great vision, decent speed, decent defender). I hope, for his sake, that no one around him is running their mouths about the NBA because if scouts are watching him (and I’m sure they were), then they are all coming away thinking the same thing, “That kid is not ready.” This may be a blessing in disguise though because maybe he’ll spend this season, the off season, and the next season getting stronger and adjusting to a new level of competition rather than looking at the NBA as something that he’s entitled to. (not to say that he’s doing that now, but just in case he is).

With that said, at least UW has Venoy Overton, who is awesome when he plays under control and plays about 20 minutes per game (he played 23 minutes against A&M). Opposing point guards must just hate playing against him.

Scott Suggs continues to impress and I’m amazed that he’s getting the time. It seemed like he was destined to transfer because he was getting so little playing time. I like what he brings to the table (a wonderful-looking jumper, great size at 6’6, and crazy length for defensive purposes).

Regarding MBA… sigh… nevermind.

I’m surprised at Isaiah Thomas’s shooting line (3-13) because he didn’t look that brutal, but then I forgot that he took the ball to the hole so often and missed (apparently) a lot. He should drive and kick to open shooters (e.g. Suggs)… if he does that, he’ll be that much more effective because he can get to the hole anytime he wants, but he can’t finish every time… But he played well in other parts of the game, such as when he blocked the aforementioned Davis’s shot. He saw the play open up for them, rushed over and blocked it from behind… it was an awesome, heads up play. He also passed the ball (5 assists) well and rebounded incredibly well (7 rebounds).

Just one more game left (San Francisco) before the Pac 10 season starts and it promises to be interesting (if not completely maddening).

As I re-read this before posting I realize how much of a bummer I sound like… honestly I want to love the UW Hoop team. I do, they are just making it hard. As for the Zags, I wil never love that team, but I do want them to do well because I like seeing things from this state do well… like I said, I’m a sap sometimes.

When SeattleU gets up to speed, you can bet your bottom buck that I’ll be pulling for them too.